I'll find you (if it's the last thing I do)
by propinatio
Summary: Post-curse Au. The town is rebuilding itself, slowly, now that things have calmed down and time continues to move on. But what happens when the one person people rely on isn't there? And where the hell did she go?
1. Chapter 1

Regina groaned as she was pulled from her slumber as the arms around her waist slid away to be replaced by a cool draft. Emma quickly bunched the covers back around the woman smiling as the frown slowly faded away.

"What?" Regina mumbled as she reached toward Emma, trying to pull her back to bed.

"Call out. Go back to sleep." Emma whispered placing a surprisingly tender kiss upon the woman's forehead. Regina snuggled back into the warmth of her bed and paid no more mind to the shuffling around the room.

Her dreams beginning to pull her into the sweet blankness of sleep missing the slamming of doors as Emma left the one place she wanted to be.

* * *

"Morning, Henry."

"Mornin'." He said yawning as he sat at the island and waited for his bowl of cereal. "Where's Emma?"

"She had a call out last night. Probably fell asleep at the station doing paper work. Again." Regina and Henry chuckled in unison. "Everything ready for school?"

"Yeah, just gotta get my bag."

"Ten minutes."

"You say that like I don't know. We do this nearly every morning." He rolled his eyes dramatically as he finished his cereal.

"And nearly every morning I have to remind you to hurry up. Now scoot." Regina said with a smile as she swatted Henry out of the kitchen.

* * *

Regina claimed it as progress when no one stared at her warily as she walked into the diner. Then again, she'd made sure to miss the morning rush for exactly those reasons.

"Morning, Regina. Coffee?" Ruby greeted with civility Regina respected. Not everyone would have been civil to the woman who made them a waitress for 28 years.

"Two. And a bear claw."

Ruby smiled at the order. Usually Emma beat the Mayor to the diner in the midst of the rush, but when she couldn't Regina was always happy to pick her up a treat. "Em working early?"

"Indeed. Got called out in the early hours of the morning. I guess she's sleeping in the station again." Regina said, flicking through the Daily Mail while she waited.

"Yeah, probably. Well, here you go."

"Thanks."

"Have a good day, Regina."

Regina simply nodded in reply and made her way out of the door. She was making progress with people but Emma never said she had to be _friends._

Just civil.

* * *

The cruiser was parked in the assigned spot when Regina made her way to the station.

Things were slowly coming together, with people adjusting to the double lives of being fairytale characters. Time was all they had needed to regroup and branch out. Now former knights were sending in applications to the sheriffs and fire departments. A much needed resource since magic had made itself known and spontaneous fires were increasing daily.

Emma had only taken on one deputy in the interim as the piles of applications grew.

Regina stopped as she took in the bullpen that was empty save for one person. "David."

"Regina." He said stifling a yawn. "What are you doing here?"

"I brought breakfast for Emma." She said, confusion slowly overtaking her features as she glanced around the room. The woman she was looking for was nowhere to be found. "Where is she?"

"I thought she'd slept in."

"Why are you here?"

"I'm on night duty this week. I can't go till I'm relieved."

"Oh." Regina blinked as she moved to Emma's office. It was just as they'd left it when Regina had pulled Emma away from her work last night. The paperwork scattered upon the desk pad, empty coffee cups and wads of paper filling the wastebasket, but no sign of Emma. "David?"

"Mhm?"

"With every call… are they recorded?"

"Yeah, course. Just in case of court and stuff but that never really happens here."

"What about ones forwarded to your mobiles?"

"Still recorded." He answered swivelling round on the chair and taking in the stoic form of the mayor. "Is everything alright?"

"I need you to check those records." Regina said without turning. Her eyes tried to take in Emma office, hoping for a sign to where she'd gone, or that she'd pop out of somewhere and laugh it off like she had done once causing Regina to burn a hole in the desk, strategically covered with the desk pad.

"Regina, what's going on?" David asked rising from the seat.

"Check the records, David." Regina snapped as she turned on him. "Please." She added quietly. He stared at her for a moment before nodding and moving to one of the back rooms.

"What am I looking for?" He called out through the open door. The clack of Regina's heels made him look up as she entered the room and leant against the doorframe.

"A call from last night."

"I didn't get any calls."

"David, please." Regina urged, her knuckles turn white as they tightened around the frame. "Any call from last night. Forwarded to Emma."

David's brow furrowed but he said nothing as he turned to the computer and scrolled. His eyes ran across every line. "There's nothing here, Regina."

"There has to be!" Regina said surging forward and pushing David aside to read the screen. David watched her. He saw the building desperation, panic, and fear in her eyes, in her face, in the tight grip she had upon the mouse. And gradually he felt his emotions begin to mirror her own.

"Regina," He began quietly, swallowing heavily unwitting to voice the words he knew he had to. "Where's Emma?"

Regina froze. Her eyes stopped searching the screen for something that obviously wasn't there. She bit her lip as fear raced through her. "I don't know."

* * *

**AN: After marathoning Broadchurch (if you haven't seen it you have to) and listening to the theme non-stop this came about. In a week I'll get back to my other stuff, and this, but exams are a bitch and this was procrastination. **

**I hope you like it. Different to my other stuff. But hopefully good. **

**Tell me what you think. **


	2. Chapter 2

Regina couldn't stop staring at the bear claw sitting on Emma's desk. David paced the space in front of her drinking Emma's coffee.

"It's a small town, Regina. She'll be around somewhere."

"It's a town with magic, David. For all we know she could've fallen into another portal."

"Don't think like that." David snapped, crushing the paper cup in his hand.

"You know the perils just as well as I. She could be anywhere! Literally anywhere!"

"She'll be here!" David yelled back, trying to hide the cracking in his voice. "She'll be here."

Regina stared him down for a moment before sighing and falling back into Emma's chair. "She's already been gone for hours. She has her phone! Why hasn't she called or answered?"

"It might be broken?" Regina levelled him with a look that shut down that line of questioning. "Well, we're not going to find her just sitting here. Get up. We're going searching."

Regina stood and looked out the window. "What if she left?"

"She wouldn't. Not without saying something."

"How are you so sure?"

"…because I have to be." David said softly. Regina took a deep breath. It wouldn't do to panic, Emma probably just got held up somewhere.

"Okay. We split up. I'll go to the docks first."

"I'll start out at the line and work my way inwards. She might just be after Pongo."

"God, I hope so." She muttered moving out of the office. "David? Don't tell anyone."

"They could help us, Regina."

"They'll panic, they'll gossip. I don't want this getting back to Henry." David nodded as he pulled on his jacket.

"Alright. Call me if you find her."

"You too." Together they strode from the sheriff station that seemed so small. And suddenly the sun that shines upon the pavement seems dull, and the chatter of citizen is an annoy buzz at the base of her skull where a headache begins to pound. Suddenly Regina feels alone.

And that makes her afraid. So afraid.

* * *

She knows Emma isn't there the moment she stops the car. The ship masts bob hauntingly over the tops of the warehouses, and as she steps from the car there's no raucous laughter that usually accompanies Emma and whoever get the pleasure of chatting with her.

And in the quiet bustle of the docks Regina realises Emma did more than break a curse. Emma didn't just save them she pulled them together. She fixed a broken kingdom and loved an Evil Queen.

Regina barely notices the phone ringing in her pocket as she eyes the empty benches until she wishes she had something to throw in anger, her hand tightening around it while it buzzes incessantly.

"Yes?" She answers boringly. Because that's how the world seems to her now that she can't find Emma. Boring.

"Any sign?" David asks. He seems breathless.

"Not at the docks. You?"

"I-" He trails off and Regina's headache pounds viciously.

"Spit it out, David." She snaps already moving back to her car. Because he really doesn't need to tell her, she knows. He found something.

"The bug. It's out by Briar's Trail."

"She's not there is she?" Regina pauses before starting the car. The silence from David is overwhelming.

"No. Its- it doesn't look good."

"What do you mean?"

"The doors open. Like she ran to chase something. But… there's nothing else out here."

"There has to be." Regina says with conviction she doesn't feel. She hangs up slams her hands against the steering wheel once, breathes, and starts the car.

* * *

Maybe this isn't real. Honestly none of them should exist so maybe this is a nightmare that repeatedly pokes at her insecurities. Maybe. Maybe not.

David can't face the abandoned car. It hurts too much to see the driver's side door flung wide open with none on inside. The fact that only a few weeks ago Emma had staunchly defended her reliable bug against Regina's wish she get a proper, safer car, causes Regina's head to pound harder.

"Any trace?" She asked wearily, bypassing the car to stand beside David. A united front. And though neither would admit it aloud, they're grateful for the companionship.

"I can't tell." David sighs and rubs at his eyes.

"Go home, David. Get some sleep." Regina says gently, the bags under David's eyes growing as the minutes tick by and Emma remains absent.

"I can't. I wouldn't be able to." David stumbles back and rests against the hood of the car. "I should be able to find her." He whispers brokenly.

Regina doesn't know what to say. For so long she's hated their little saying but now… Now she just wans to find Emma. And tell her that she always will. That she'll be there for her.

But she can't. Not yet, she hopes.

"Maybe… maybe she has to find us."

David takes in a shaky breath. He stands and faces the endless trail that shows no signs of boot prints or destroyed foliage. They've hiked with Emma before, watched her trudged through the undergrowth with little care to the plants under her feet, so the bare path causes an ache in them both.

David growls with anger and kicks the front bumper of the beetle once. Twice. On the third he crumbles and rests his hands against the dented hood and tries to hide the fear he feels. But it comes out when he speaks.

"Where is she?"

Regina opens her mouth to speak but they both know what she would say. And those words haunt them as the return to their respective cars and leave the beetle. Because maybe Emma will come back to it and drive back to town.

Or maybe she wont. And the uncertainty eats away at them as the town comes into view and people continue to go about their day. And the answer to David's question lingers.

_I don't know._

* * *

Henry arrives home from school with a loud greeting. He shuffles into the kitchen on his socks and talks about his day and Regina manages to pull herself together enough to smile and ask two questions. To which Henry eagerly answers as he pours some juice.

Regina brings her mug up to her mouth to hide the slight tremble of her lips and realises her coffee is cold. Henry asks if she's alright and remarkably she smiles and tell him she had a long day. Henry nods as if he understands what she's been through before bounding from the kitchen to go do his homework.

Then the house is quiet once more. Regina pours the coffee down the sink. Looking out the window she realises how long she has been sitting in solitude. It's too much to hope that Emma's simply missed Regina or David as they trawled through town repeatedly.

And though the sun outside is setting, the warmth from Regina's life has already gone. Yes, Henry is here. He's her light in the darkness, but Emma brought warmth, and safety, and love when she needed it.

Dinner consists of last nights left over spaghetti and when Henry notices he realises something's up.

"Mom, is everything okay?" He asks quietly, his eyes flicking to the empty spot where Emma usually sits.

"Yes, I was just… not feeling up to cooking tonight." The wine Regina sips now sluggishly unwinds the knot in her stomach.

"Okay. When's Emma coming home?" Henry has sauce on the side of his mouth and Regina distracts herself form the question as she reaches across to wipe it away.

"Mom?" He asks again.

"I don't know, Henry." Regina watches him carefully but he simply nods along and tries to fit too much spaghetti on his fork. She returns to playing around with her own pasta. It bunches together on her fork but she doesn't have the energy to lift it to her lips.

The wine, however, seems effortless in comparison.

* * *

**AN: I had it written so I thought why not? **

**Tell me what you think. Should I keep going? Trash it? Go on hiatus for ages and keep you guys guessing?**

**Let me know. **


	3. Chapter 3

Regina glared at the front door as the sound of the bell echoed through the house. If it wasn't Emma on the other side then whoever it was would get the Evil Queen they all feared.

She opened the door slowly and sighed at the woman before her. "Yes, Ms Lucas?"

"David called me." Ruby said, her face betraying the words she didn't utter. "I followed the trail, she was there, but then nothing. Like she vanished." Regina clenched her jaw and closed her eyes hoping for a moment to rebuild the walls that were slowly tumbling down.

"I'm sorry, Regina. I wish there was more I could do."

"You've done enough."

"No, I'll go back out tomorrow. Maybe she just veered off the track. There has to be something."

"Don't worry about that now. Do you mind calling Michael Tillman to bring the bug back?"

"…It'll have to go to the station."

"Why's that?" Regina asked, her defenses kicking in with full force. If she wasn't allowed to have Emma then she'd damn well have her car, any reminder that the woman actually existed.

"It's a crime scene, Regina." Ruby whispered. Regina shut the door and leant back against it. Hearing a muffled apology through the wood as she walked back to her study.

Sitting behind her desk she finally did what she'd ben holding off for the whole day.

She cried.

* * *

"Morning, mom." Henry smiled as he moved about the kitchen with an ease born of safety and innocence.

"Henry," Regina swallowed past the lump in her throat. She'd spent an hour in front of the mirror this morning just gazing at her dishevelled reflection waiting for arms to wind around her waist and a soft voice to call her beautiful, but it never came.

"Mom? Are you okay?" Henry asked turning to watch his mother with perceptive eyes as she leant heavily against the arched frame.

"Henry, Emma's missing." She said. Like ripping off a band-aid.

"What?"

"She got a call out early yesterday morning and hasn't been seen since." She stated robotically.

"Why are you only telling me now?!" Henry yelled his face falling. And there it was, the look Regina never wanted to see on her sons face. Betrayal.

"I hoped, I wished that she'd return before I had to tell you."

"She could be hurt! Don't you care?!"

Regina couldn't help the gasp that escaped her lips at his accusation. His words had always had the power to wound but this one felt fatal. "Of course I care." She whispered giving up the fight to keep her tears in check.

Henry paid her no mind as he raced upstairs calling repeatedly for Emma. Regina rested her head against the wall as Henry's yells reverberated through the house turning to sobs when nobody answered.

* * *

"I'm sorry I yelled." Henry mumbled against her chest as Regina held him tightly. David and Ruby were going over the car rigorously for any clue as to what had happened, texting Regina with sporadic updates.

**Gun missing. Probably took it with her.**

**Phone gone. Not in woods. Probably on her.**

**Found her badge under the drivers seat.**

But they did nothing to ease the ache of Emma's disappearance.

"Where is she?" Henry asked quietly, having calmed down after spending most of the day trying to leave the house and search for his mother. Regina had called the school after breakfast. Henry wouldn't be going in for the rest of the week.

"I wish I knew."

"Why aren't you finding her?" He pulled back from her hold and looked at her, without betrayal causing her heart to lighten a smidge.

"It's case. I'm not in the Sherriff's department. David is, and now Ruby, temporarily."

Eugenia had understood in letting Ruby off diner duty for the unforeseeable future. Regina had made it exceedingly clear to David that Emma's disappearance was on a need to know basis for the moment. It would get out soon enough, but in these crucial starting moments they needed to remain free of panicking citizen hounding them for answers they didn't have.

"What about your magic? Can't you find her with that?"

"I could. But remember: magic is emotion. And I'm not exactly in the right frame of mind to be using it at the moment." Regina said with a soft smile as Henry nodded.

"When do you think you'll be able to?"

"Soon." She said pulling him into another hug. "You've helped me focus, now. You've always been able to help."

"I just hope she's okay." Henry whispered fidgeting with his hands like Emma did when she knew she was about to get in trouble for one thing or another.

"So do I."

* * *

_If it wasn't official already then she'd make it so. Rumplestiltskin was a dick. She'd force Sydney to just write that upon the front page of the Daily Mail. _

_Who did he think he was calling her up at 2 o'clock in the morning because he thought there was suspicious activity in his cabin? The only suspicious activity she could find was the Dark One being awake at that hour and wandering the woods. _

_That and the rat that had made it's home in his cabin. _

"_Suspicious activity my ass." Emma muttered as she got back in the bug._

_He was a dick. The Dark One afraid of a rat. Regina would get a kick out of that. Emma chuckled as she started the bug and began her journey home. _

_She drove cautiously seeing as she was exhausted and Regina would have a fit if she fell asleep at the wheel. She barely noticed the quiet tune echoing in the car until it began to grow louder. The sounds of piano keys began a tune while violins began harmonising hauntingly causing her brow to furrow. She shot a look to the radio that had been busted for years as the music continued. _

_Looking around outside she slowed the car to a stop before she spotted a silhouette hiding on the edge of the forest. Placing her hand upon her gun for reassurance she opened the door leaving one foot in the foot well in case she needed a quick getaway._

"_Hello? Are you alright?" She called out, the music fading away as the figure stepped forward. _

"_Regina?"_

* * *

**AN: I should really be studying but I just couldn't stop myself. Hope you like it.**

**For the music I was listening to the Broadchurch Main Theme by Ólafur Arnalds, you should listen to it. **

**Tell me what you think. :)**


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